Israel's Main Newspaper Sees Environment As the World's Primary Issue to Solve

To our readers

By TheMarker

The failure to take a stand is the most extreme stand. And when it comes to the environment, there's nothing like continuous erosion to create irreversible damage to our planet, to our country and to ourselves.


Therefore we at TheMarker and throughout the Haaretz Group have made the strategic decision to take a stand. We are adopting the environment as a flagship issue. We have decided to do everything in our power to urge policymakers and shapers, the companies that pollute our land, water and air, and consumers, too - yes, all of us - to become a part of the Green Revolution.

Global warming has turned from a theory into a fact that almost no one questions any more. Thinking about the environment has changed, from negative to positive. No more Sysiphean chasing after polluters with nothing more in mind than castigation. It is time to stress the economic injury they will suffer unless they change, and naturally, the economic value they will reap when they do change their ways.

A change is taking place throughout the world around us. Green companies are receiving substantial premiums for their new practices. Consumers refuse to be fooled by so-called "green-wash" any more, a reference to reassuring promises.

They want to know how much carbon dioxide is actually being emitted into our atmosphere by the flight they just took. They want to know what harm is done by the production of the snack bar they just ate. They want to know what the car they just parked is doing to our planet.

A growing number of consumers are willing to eschew luxuries dear to their hearts, to make real change in their lifestyles, to forgo consumption of products and services if they or their production are too costly in terms of the environmental harm they cause.

That is the essence of Green Economics. Don't dismiss it as a trend. Look at the test cases of BP and GE and even DuPont, some of the biggest polluters of all time.

From day one, TheMarker's color has been green. But today, as we launch our Green Economics drive, in the hope of leading true change in Israel's corporate culture, we feel that our color has a completely new meaning. Our goal is to make the color mean something to other people as well.

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